Lysistrata as Early Feminist

Excerpts from the Paper

The beginning:

Lysistrata as Early Feminist
Lysistrata
by Aristophanes is a play about gender politics in Ancient Greece. In this play the women bring about the end of the Peloponnesian War by denying sex to their men. While the whole play is often seen as a reversal of the traditional sex roles in Greek society it can be argued that only one of the women displayed a truly feminist mentality. This woman was
Lysistrata
.
The character of
Lysistrata
is unique for a number of reasons. However, it can be argued that
Lysistrata
is unique among the women because of her dominant personality. While most of the women in the play were passive and submissive
Lysistrata
was dominant and active. In this sense she had taken on male gender roles in a society that...

The end:

.....ient Greece,
Lysistrata
was a very dominant individual. She knew how to lead and organize. She also spoke her mind in a way that none of the other women would find appropriate.
By depicting
Lysistrata
in this way Aristophanes has become the perfect outsider. Biologically she is a woman so she can’t be one of the men. But, she has a dominant personality that separates her from the women. Due to her separation she is in a perfect position to point out the faults of both men and women.
Works Cited
Aristophanes, “
Lysistrata
” in Four Comedies by Aristophanes,
William
Arrowsmith
(ed), Douglass Parker(Trans), Ann Arbor
Paperbacks, 1969: 9-89.
Deats
, Sara Munson,
Lenker
,
Lagretta
Tallent
and Perry, Merry G.
War and Words, Lexington Books, 2004.